Google took a bath on Android in 2010, judge reveals

Android gave Google nothing but a net loss for every quarter of 2010, despite making about $97m in revenue in the first quarter of the year.

Google doesn't release specific financial information about Android, but the numbers came out in the Oracle v Google trial over the Chocolate Factory's use of Java in its mobile operating system.

US district Judge William Alsup mentioned the figures in a discussion yesterday about potential damages in the case held outside the jury's presence, Reuters reported.

He had sealed the document submitted by Google containing the data, but read parts of it out loud to the court. He didn't say exactly how much the web giant had lost on Android, but said it was down in every quarter.

"That adds up to a big loss for the whole year," Alsup said.

The jury is currently deliberating on the copyright portion of the case, but there is still a patent dispute to be heard and later ruled on.

A juror asked the judge yesterday what would happen if the jury couldn't reach a unanimous decision. The note was the eighth communication from the jury since they started trying to decide on Monday.

Alsup said the case was a complicated one and it wasn't unusual for people to disagree. He sent the jury home for the day yesterday and asked them to come back to deliberations today.

If the jury really can't decide one way or another on the copyright issue, the judge said they may move on to the patent part of the case and leave the copyright to a new jury on retrial. ®